are able to mobilize and supporter state partners. again, the storm is incredibly unique. it s a landmark event for texas. it will be frustrating for the citizens because of the duration of rain s anticipated over the next 72 - 100 hours. we cannot put our support teams in areas where their lives are in danger. it backs up our ability to get the people and help them. we are asking citizens to set their expectations that this is going to be a marathon. leland: we heard from the governor last night and he said this is a texas size storm that will require texas size response. what i m hearing is a lot of help from the federal government.
harvey. the president declared it a disaster before the storm made landfall. that frees up a lot of federal resources. people are calling the storm a first big test, it will hear how the president is responding in terms of what the administration thinks is at stake. is clear they understand it s a big test. leading up to hurricane harvey president trump wanted the country to know he was bringing a close eye this morning he said closely monitoring hurricane harvey. were bringing nothing to chance. city, state, federal governments working great together. just as he it was planning to make landfall he declared a major disaster declaration saying for help and federal aid for temporary housing, home repairs and other programs to
we re at right now. elizabeth: you talked a little about the governor. we expect to hear from governor abbott 12:45 eastern time. we have word there s a press conference at that time. he, obviously, is in austin, texas. what do you expect we ll hear from the governor at this point? and also, when it does come to law enforcement and it comes to people seizing on the opportunity and like you said, a harsher penalties for folks who are over the age of 65, who are violated. is that going to be laid out with this press conference along with an update? yeah, i think the governor is going to have a lot of detail which areas are hardest hit. where we re at with potential rescues. i think he s also going to talk about resources coming into the state and where we re expecting those resources. so the governor has done an amazing job. he s prepared for this and has lots of experience and texas in and of itself has a lot of experience. we ve done it in the past and we re going to do a good job on
department of homeland security 12 years ago when katrina hit. what are you most concerned about, with the characteristics of the storm. i m expecting flooding, but what you can bring to the table in this situation? what i m most concerned about, you re right, is flooding. because flooding is a sustained recovery period. we re right now in initial response, but recovery will be long. at the current moment, what we re worried about is people being too optimistic. the storm is still in place. we expect peak flooding not to be for several days. so people getting too complacent could add to injury of life and we are concerned about that. what we learned more with preparedness and early, and we ve had great cooperation between the government and state of texas and louisiana, also. elizabeth: we appreciate you joining us today. i know you probably had a long night last night and probably another one tonight.
out of power. we will wait over the next couple of hours to see if people are able to upload more things overnight. this morning brian is an new york to cover it all. elizabeth: coming up, we are minutes away from an update on hurricane harvey from texas governor, greg abbott. as soon as he goes to the podium we will bring it to life. plus more president trumps pardon and how people are reacting. we will tell you about it. in a massive effort underway. we ll talk with the administrator the first major disaster for president trump boost. it s about moving forward, not back.